COVID-19 Policy Update #172
COVID-19 Policy Update
TUESDAY 12/22
This will be my last COVID-19 Policy Update for 2020 as I take some time to rest and recharge.
Don't forget to download and install the 2021 update as it addresses some of the 2020 bugs and has some important anti-virus updates.
From my elves to yours, have a wonderful holiday. Thanks for your resolve and perseverance in 2020 and I look forward to working with you on the important challenges that await us in the new year.
--John
TOP THREE
Transition:
Biden announced Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s state school chief, as his pick for Secretary of Education. Good write up from Erin Richards at USA Today and more from the CT Mirror.
Bruce Reed, Biden’s vice presidential chief of staff from 2011 to 2013 and a longtime adviser, will become a deputy chief of staff. Extremely good news - Bruce is incredible.
Omnibus-COVID Relief-Higher Ed Package: The package passed the House last night a 359-53 vote. The Senate passed it along a vote of 92-6
Summaries from our partners:
PennHill: Summary
Education Counsel:
A top-line summary of key education-related and child care provisions included in the COVID relief funding package
A detailed table outlining key funding levels for ED and HHS in FY2021
An overview of the higher education provisions included in the package, including simplification of FAFSA and restoration of Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals, among other provisions.
NAESP has a rough estimate of what states will receive compared to the CARES Act.
And USNews on how education came up short in the final deal.
Other Summaries on Broader Aspects of the Legislation:
Tax Foundation's analysis on the tax provisions, including this handy visualization of the direct cash benefit eligibility and phase outs.
Also this great NYT piece: A Dinner, a Deal and Moonshine: How the Stimulus Came Together
Why Americans Are Numb to the Staggering Coronavirus Death Toll: Via Washington Post. Something happens in the brain when fatalities reach such high numbers, say psychologists who have studied genocides and mass disasters.
"In one study, his researchers showed people a picture of a 7-year-old girl dying of starvation and asked for donations to help her. He showed another group two starving children, then even larger sets of children. Slovic found people’s distress didn’t grow with the number of children in danger, but often shrank."
"Instead of a single discrete event — like the twin towers collapsing on Sept. 11, 2001 — the pandemic has unfolded as an invisible, slow-creeping, chronic hazard. Over time, our brains gradually tune out the danger."
"Without visual, physical manifestations of deaths, the alarm bells in our heads fail to ring, experts said. Because we don’t see the deaths, we fail to see their connection to us — including our role in preventing their growing numbers."
COVID-19 RESEARCH
COVID and Children: AAP's most recent data shows coronavirus cases among children increased by 25% in the two weeks from December 3 to 17.
1,821,746 total child COVID-19 cases reported, and children represented 12.3% of overall cases.
Children made up between 6.0%-17.9% of total state tests, and between 5.7%-23.7% of children tested were tested positive
Children were 1.1%-2.8% of total reported hospitalizations
Children were 0.00%-0.21% of all COVID-19 deaths, and 13 states reported zero child deaths
New COVID Variant: The UK is investigating the impact of the new variant on children, including trying to understand if children transmit this new strain more than the current one.
Vaccine Hesitancy: Some U.S. Black pastors, key players in COVID education, are hesitating to push vaccine.
How Misinformation is Distorting COVID Policies and Behaviors: Important report from Brookings.
STATE
California: LAUSD likely to keep schools remote in January after testing showed a surge of cases. “Think about that — 1 in 10 children being tested at schools show no symptoms but have the virus. It’s clear we’re a long way from reopening schools with the level of virus this high.”
INTERNATIONAL
UK: Low school attendance will lead to inequality
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
How COVID-19 Hollowed Out a Generation of Young Black Men: Via Pro Publica.
Janet Napolitano: COVID and college – we can't let a pandemic upend the future for our most vulnerable kids
Why ‘Pivot Counties’ That Stuck With Trump May Be a Warning for Democrats: More than 200 counties flipped from Barack Obama to Trump in 2016. Joe Biden won only 25 of them back.
RESOURCES
The Deadliest Year In U.S. History: Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months. But preliminary numbers suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019.
A Simple Fix: Kindergarten at Night: Via NYT: To help working parents keep their kids focused on remote learning, one school switched up its schedule.
Essay Competition: The Financial Times’ free schools access programme is seeking ideas from students on how to improve education and tackle “learning loss” after months of disruption caused by coronavirus. The best contribution will be published by the FT and the World Bank. Details here.
Over at ScaryMommy: Op-Ed: Want Schools To Open Safely? In-School COVID Testing Is Necessary
US Public School Enrollment Dips: An analysis of data from 33 states obtained by Chalkbeat and The Associated Press shows that public K-12 enrollment this fall has dropped across those states by more than 500,000 students, or 2%, since the same time last year.
What if Remote Learning Slows Them Down? A NYT interactive.
Progressive Policy Institute’s David Osborne on Creating New Innovation Schools Guide at a Moment of Crisis: Via The 74.
MLK: His last Christmas Sermon (listen / read). "It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality."